Twinkies don't taste as good as they used to.
That is the single truest line written in this topic so far.
rowan williams, the former archbishop of canterbury gave an interesting answer to the somewhat stark question, what’s the point of us existing?
as a christian, my starting point is that we exist because the most fundamental form of activity, energy, call it what you like, that is there, is love.
that is, it’s a willingness that the other should be.
Twinkies don't taste as good as they used to.
That is the single truest line written in this topic so far.
it-1 p. 493 communication - "when the circumcision issue was resolved by the governing body in jerusalem......".
it-1 p. 881 galatians, letter to the - "by reason of a revelation, paul, with barnabas and titus, went to jerusalem regarding the circumcision issue; he learned nothing new from james, peter, and john, but they recognized that he had been empowered for an apostleship to the nations.
" (galatians 2:1-10).
"Actual scholars disagree on the minor specifics of certain data, therefore disproven WTS lunacy is legit" is about as dissonant as congnition can possibly get.
i’m still an elder and i consider myself jw light.
as my fellow elders are.
we don’t throw our weight around like elders used to in the past, it’s all very easy going these days.
ElderBerry: Most religious groups have large numbers of people who are agnostic if they are honest with themselves.
There is no way to demonstrate this. I think you are stating it because it makes your stance seem more common and therefore the dishonesty is less of a problem.
But that is still not my concern with it. Be agnostic if you want. But please do not try to hide behind "no one can know for sure" as if you can apply that to everything. By staying in, you tacitly approve of --and possibly help to maintain-- a set of bad and dangerous policies.
there are 1/2 of the jehovah’s witnesses that there were 30 years ago in my area.
some have left but i think that many have died and none of their kids stayed being jehovah’s witnesses.
7 congregations have been dissolved over the years.
I'm curious at what the internal numbers look like after the changes to reporting time and door-to-door service. Are they finding more converts from the less-intrusive approach? Wouldn't that be ironic!
uh oh, looks like the mega thread gave up the ghost, so while i investigate / fix it just continue the discussion here .... it's been a long 9 years lloyd evans / john cedars.
You can see how hard he has worked to minimize the damage from his misadventures. New exJWs still are given the impression that he had a moment of weakness during a time when his marriage was on the rocks, and "dated a sex worker." Only when they ask do they learn that he had been seeing sex workers regularly for years and that he was a self-absorbed grade A asshole to everyone he worked with and to his family.
It's good that people are still willing to shine a light on his awful behavior, because he will never stop trying to minimize what he did and put the blame on the people "harrassing" him. Those 300 diehards are working their asses off to cover for him. I don't know how they sleep at night.
i’m still an elder and i consider myself jw light.
as my fellow elders are.
we don’t throw our weight around like elders used to in the past, it’s all very easy going these days.
ElderBerry: It may be true or it may not I don’t know and neither does anyone else.
I am not disputing that the ultimate truths or knowledge about the universe are possibly unknown. That is not what this is about. Pretending to support an organization that is deceitful and has bad and dangerous policies can be harmful to you and others. Dismissing this risk because 'it's all opinion' is not an excuse. The dangers of shunning and of the blood policy are not simply matters of opinion, they cause real harm. The incorrect predictions are not opinions, they are wrong and a sign that the GB is not what it claims to be. The bad policies that protect child predators are not matters of opinion; they have real-world consequences to the victims and their families.
i’m still an elder and i consider myself jw light.
as my fellow elders are.
we don’t throw our weight around like elders used to in the past, it’s all very easy going these days.
ElderBerry: Are you beginning to see the difference between PIMA and your approach where you decide what is definitely true or not?
I am seeing the difference between dogma and thinking for one's self.
(apologies for the typo in the title.
"teaching" should read "teachings".
i misread vanderhoven7's most recent post as being the above.
I agree that there is no hell for the dead; that death is a state of nonexistence and that 'hell' is a metaphorical reference to the final fate of all people.
i’m still an elder and i consider myself jw light.
as my fellow elders are.
we don’t throw our weight around like elders used to in the past, it’s all very easy going these days.
ElderBerry: It’s all a matter of opinion what are bad ideas.
No, it's not.
If it is then your replies are, themselves, criticisms of opinions and therefore... arrogant.
Are you beginning to see the problem with your approach?
rowan williams, the former archbishop of canterbury gave an interesting answer to the somewhat stark question, what’s the point of us existing?
as a christian, my starting point is that we exist because the most fundamental form of activity, energy, call it what you like, that is there, is love.
that is, it’s a willingness that the other should be.
The world exists because God desires that there be an other, and so love is fundamental to that.
Maybe it exists because god loves to create universes. Maybe the development of life is incidental to his love of creation; an interesting but ultimately discarded artifact of his fondness for causing worlds to form from the expansion of a singularity (or twirling them into existence out of thin air, if this is his preference).
At the same time, a being who is utterly unlike us might create universes and worlds and people without a shred of motivation. Perhaps this is god's true nature-- he wishes universes into existence, then loses them in the clutter of his home, where they tumble about until they run out of energy and disappear in a puff of magic.